1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to kitchen aids, specifically to a bag scaffold configured to support a flexible bag in an open and upright configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
Storing materials in bags is done for varying purposes, including but not limited to food storage, shipping, and even creating building materials (sand bags, etc.). To optimize storage space and flexibility while minimizing weight and bulk, these bags are generally flexible and have little to no structure other than the minimum needed to contain their contents.
Accordingly, it is sometimes difficult to fill the bags, especially with fluid or fluid-like materials (sand, grains, etc.). Structures have been developed to facilitate use of these bags, including structures for the bags themselves.
A zipper storage bag or a slider storage bag is an inexpensive flexible rectangular storage bag, usually mainly transparent, made of PVC or similar plastic, which can be sealed and opened many times by a slider which works in a similar way to a zip fastener. The bags are made in many sizes and shapes. Many such bags are of food grade, suitable for food storage such as sandwiches, fruits, liquids, solids, etc. The bags may be made for freezer storage and air-tight storage.
Other structures have been developed to provide a support, or scaffolding, for the bags. In this manner, as a supported bag is being filled, the bag will not tip over. Also, this can remove the need to use ones hand(s) to stabilize the bag. Accordingly, the hand(s) may be used in the filling process for faster, easier, safer, cleaner, more comfortable, etc. filling and/or processing. These structures come in varying forms with varying benefits.
Some improvements have been made in the field. Examples of references related to the present invention are described below in their own words, and the supporting teachings of each reference are incorporated by reference herein:
U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,030, issued to Judge, discloses a trash bag holder and expanding form is made from a sheet of stiff material that has at least three panels to hold a bag in an erect condition and to expand the opening of the bag into a shape that will allow the user to fill the bag with leaves or trash without having to hold the bag. The panels are separated by parallel, vertically disposed score lines that act as fold lines or hinges between the panels of the holder. The holder can be formed from high density corrugated polyurethylene (HDPE) board, recycled plastic corrugated board that may have a lap joint sealed by a sonic weld. The panels are proportioned so that the sheet material can be folded flat with the panels lying against one another. When the invention is folded into its operational configuration, the score lines act as corners such that the form is tubular or U-shaped with open ends and braces may hold panels in extended opposing relationship.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,061, issued to Elstone, discloses a collapsible box for storing liquids, the box capable of being stacked while filled and then collapsed for convenient storage and return shipping when not filled. The box includes a base having a lip extending upwardly along the edges of the bottom panel. An upper sleeve is connected to the base by a base hinge, the upper panel being foldable by way of several other hinges to either an open or a closed position. A lid has a lip extending downwardly to selectively surround the top edges of the upper sleeve when the upper sleeve is in the open position, thereby forming an enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,659,407, issued to Asaro, discloses a collapsible trash bag stand having a sleeve-shaped body made from durable semi-rigid sheet material and having a plurality of punch-out, retainer tabs that snap into position to prevent the bag from slipping into the stand and to accommodate loading of multiple layers of trash bags at one time.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0187558, by Blodgett et al., discloses a food storage bag holder is configured to maintain a food storage bag in an open and upright configuration to facilitate filling the food storage bag with contents such as food. The holder has a body comprised of a cylinder or frame with a top rim adapted to frictionally engage a folded over top edge of the food storage bag to support it and hold it open. The body defines an interior cavity. The holder is sized to engage a food storage bag. The top rim is sized to engage a bag having a resealable closure. The bag is engaged by inserting the bag into the cavity defined by the body and folding the closure of the bag over the top rim of the holder. The top rim has an outer perimeter less than the perimeter of the mouth of the bag. For example, a circular top rim may have an outer diameter less than the quotient of the perimeter of the mouth of the bag divided by .pi.. The height h of the holder is less than the height measured from the bottom of the body of the bag to the bottom edge of the closure of the bag.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0224292, by Rubang Jr., discloses a collapsible box with an interlocking lip-sealable plastic bag as a liner is unfolded to open the sealable bag to permit oil from a crankcase to be ecologically removed during an oil change. When all of the oil has been removed, the bag is sealed and the box with the bag is transported to a disposal site where it may be safely handled. In one embodiment, the box with the bag is provided with a capped outlet port such that the oil from the bag can be removed by uncapping the outlet port where it may be made to drain into an approved receptacle. In another embodiment the bag is adhesively secured to the walls of the box so that the bag is supported when the box is opened and upright so as to be able to receive the draining oil. In a still further embodiment the bag is folded down over the box to overlap the upper portion of the box such that opening of the box provides an expanded aperture for the bag into which drained oil may be directed. The oil bag/box combination is designed to be collapsible so that it can be folded flat and stacked for easy storage. In another embodiment the box is provided with foldable handles to facilitate carrying.
The inventions heretofore known suffer from a number of disadvantages which include being limited in use, being difficult to use, being too bulky, being inefficient, being ineffective, being too expensive, being awkward to use, being expensive to manufacture, being difficult to manufacture, being prone to defect, being difficult to clean, being difficult to maintain, failing to resist changing forces from a contained bag during a filling process, being difficult to adjust to a storing configuration, being bulky to ship, requiring too many different parts, being too flexible along one or more geometric regions/planes/lines/etc., being unstable, being prone to breakage, being too complicated, having too many parts, having a large and/or complicated cleaning surface area, harboring germs, not being scalable to various sized projects, requiring the user to have physical contact with the material being disposed in the bag, requiring fill material to have contact with the scaffold structure during the fill process, being unsanitary, not being suitable for commercial use, not being suitable for industrial use, and/or not being suitable for home use.
What is needed is a bag scaffold that solves one or more of the problems described herein and/or one or more problems that may come to the attention of one skilled in the art upon becoming familiar with this specification.